Less than two months ago, the alternator in my Saab died. After borrowing some tools, I replaced it (pain in the ass). Last Friday, my battery light came on and it stayed on (last time it came on it flickered on and off, until I changed my alternator).
My gut hunch tells me it is the battery that is going. I do realize that I used a rebuilt alternator to replace the failed one, but I’m hoping that I didn’t get a lemon. I had to go away for the weekend, and I started the car today and the battery indicator came on immediately. Luckily, I went to my future father-in-law for the weekend, and he gave me his spare battery charger (10 amp), which was from, I think, 1973.
The unit did not come with instructions. It has an amp reader gauge with two needles, one red and one white. The unit also only has the two alligator clips. It says on the unit in big letters: “Connect Red Positive [+], Black Negative .”
My future FIL said to connect positive to positive and negative to the car frame, then plug it in. I followed his instructions for about 2 hours and nothing happened that I can tell. Looking at the unit again, I connected red to + and black to - and then plugged it in. The white needle went to 12 and the red needle is at about 9.5 and is slowly pulsing towards the white needle.
I immediately disconnected everything because I didn’t want to damage anything. What is the correct way to connect the battery charger? How long will it take? I just want to drive a mile to AutoZone and have them test the battery and possibly replace.
despite the rather cryptic instructions you hook the Red Positive [+], Black Negative and plug it in.
there really is no need to hook the negative to the body, it actually might create an issue if there is a voltage drop between where you hooked it up and the negative battery cable.
so hook the red lead to the positive post of the battery, and the black lead to the negative post, and plug it in.
I think your future FIL is confusing charging with jumping. I have a small charger for my lawn tractors and they only have two alligator clips (unlike jumping, where you would have four), and I routinely connect them both to the appropriate battery posts after every winter when I need to start the mowers again.
Well if I had a dollar for every time I had a part of the car that was unpainted AND a bad ground for a jumper cable, I, well I, let’s just say I could take you for one hell of a dinner somewhere.
Also if the negative battery cable is bad and has a voltage drop (resistance) in it, you are not going to get the battery fully charged.
Use the terminals on the battery and you eliminate these issues. Reading the OP it sounds a whole lot like the first time he hooked up the charger the negative cable was not on a good ground (since nothing happened)
Why go to the effort to remove the battery from the car? What is the safety issue here? IMNSHO there is a larger safety issue in removing the battery, as you might drop it on your foot. Leave the battery in place with the key off and use the charger.
Thanks for all the help. I found out that the white needle tells me what the original volts should be (12 in this case), and that the red needle is to drop to 0 when fully charged.
I had the negative clip on a painted surface, so I guess that I didn’t originally complete a good circuit.
It sure is taking a long time. I really hope my alternator is still good.
Just hook the clips to the battery + to + and - top - and charge it until the charging needle stabilizes at a low level like 3-4 amps or won’t move lower. You are done.
The Saab has a high drain on the system while parked. You can’t leave some Saabs parked for two weeks without causing a dead battery. If you could borrow or buy a simple volt-ohm meter for about $10 at the store, you could test the battery voltage and charging system. With the engine running, the alternator should be holding at about 14VDC even with the lights and heater turned on for a test load. Just set the meter to DC volts and hold the ends against the battery terminals. This is how you could test the alternator yourself.